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Abstract

In this paper we demonstrate the realization of an autocorrelator for the characterization of ultrashort surface plasmon polariton (SPP) pulses. A wedge shaped structure is used to continuously increase the time delay between two interfering SPPs. The autocorrelation signal is monitored by non-linear two-photon photoemission electron microscopy. The presented approach is applicable to other SPP sensitive detection schemes that provide only moderate spatial resolution and may therefore be of general interest in the field of ultrafast plasmonics.

Wedge shaped gold structure (structure A) imaged by PEEM: (a) threshold PEEM (hν = 4.9 eV), and (b) 2P-PEEM (hν = 1.55 eV), λint is the interference pattern periodicity as described in detail in the text. (c) 2P-PEEM image of the rectangular area in (c), exhibiting SPP-Laser superposition patterns characteristic for the SPP pulses excited at the two wedge edges, respectively. The blue lines indicate the tilt of the two superposition patterns with respect to each other.

Pulse duration effect on the autocorrelation signal (structure B). (a) Experiment; (b) simulation (c) intensity profiles of the simulated (red) and the measured (blue) data for 46 fs pulses. (d) experiment; (e) simulation; (f) intensity profiles of the simulated (red) and the measured (blue) data for 15 fs pulse. The dimensions of structure B correspond to a variation of the time delay between 0 and 31.6 fs. The shown autocorrelation traces start at 4 fs due to the finite width of the non-perfect wedge tip.

SPP-SPP interference for different time delays δ and different laser pulse durations tlaser as indicated in (a)–(d) monitored by a pump-probe 2P-PEEM scheme. The upper panels show the 2P-PEEM data, the lower panels show the corresponding intensity profiles.